RALEIGH — North Carolina Transportation Secretary Tony Tata today announced that Kelly J. Thomas of Fayetteville will lead the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles. Thomas comes to the Division with 32 years of experience in leadership, logistics and customer service with the United States Army. He served most recently as deputy chief of staff for personnel for the U.S. Army Forces Command where he was in charge of providing support and services for soldiers and their families.

During his service, Thomas led human resource readiness operations, including providing benefit services to active duty military families. His strategic leadership duties also included the deployment and issuance of service member and family identification cards for use in obtaining human resource services throughout the command. He received B.A. degree from Methodist College in 1981 and a graduate degree from the U.S. Army War College in 2001.

“Kelly’s extensive experience in team building and strong customer focus make him an excellent choice to lead DMV,” said Secretary Tata. “As we continue our DMV transformation that includes expanding evening and Saturday hours and other enhanced customer-focused reform, Kelly Thomas will continue to fuel DMV’s climb to the highest level of efficiency and effectiveness among state service providers.”

As Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, Thomas will oversee the daily operations of the division, including the issuance of over 2.2 million driver licenses annually, the registration of 8.7 million vehicles across the state, vehicle safety and emissions inspections by more than 6,000 inspection stations statewide, and activities to halt vehicle theft and identity fraud.